There is a lot of “wiggle room” in the definition of terms and their respective placement in the four quadrants. Highly interactive Web-Based-Training (WBT) courses can include simulations and would be placed in the top-right quadrant, simulations can be high-fidelity and expensive, or light-weight and more affordable. When building the graph, I used as a compromise generally-accepted definitions that can be found in Wikipedia and commonly used practices for the various learning modalities. What was determining was their relative placement against other media.

Like-wise, the arrow of effectiveness and efficiency are indicative of the respective value of each media. It does not mean that WBT are less effective or coaching always the most expensive media. Blended coaching approaches can be very cost effective and WBT can be very effective to transfer knowledge, theories and models. In the end, it is about selecting the right media to ensure the transfer of a particular learning objective.

The opinions expressed in this post are my own and not necessarily those of my employer.

Tell us what you think?Would you position some of the media differently?
What’s missing?
What else do you see in the “learning sweet spot”?

A new year usually comes with its boatload of new studies and research on the latest market trends. For many analysts, the learning industry on the cusp of a new age: the ADDIE adolescent has grown into a young adult by dating with HPI (Human Performance Improvement). It is not so much about learning, it is about performance development, or learning effectiveness.

What does it mean for L&D professionals? What are the top 5 factors driving learning effectiveness and performance development?

#2 Employee engagement is a mandatory pre-requisite of any effective learning intervention.

It is not (anymore) about delivering learning events, it is about the process and outcome. Engaged employees learn every day: before, during and after our learning events. The key words there are “Self-directed learning” and “Retention”.

#3 Knowledge, skills and abilities remain an area of focus.

ATD reports “Linking learning to performance” and “Closing skills gaps” as most influential trending topics. The latest buzzwords are about “Learning tailored to skills”, “Personalization” and “Competency frameworks”. How do we streamline our curricula to achieve this?

#4 Relationship and communication between employees is where learning happens everyday.

“Digital natives hunger for new educational approaches” (Brandon-Hall Group) and 70-20-10 is pushing ahead of the traditional ADDIE-driven blend. As a result, technology vendors are shaping x-API and cmi as the next generation of SCORM (Brandon-Hall). This is another example of how technology and innovation disrupt established paradigms. Other examples include (1) New authoring tools, (2) Mobile, embedded and contextual learning and (3) Structured micro-learningsolutions.

#5 Leadership alignment and content relevance result in effective learning.

Many LMS are crammed with courses from a decade of blended learning history; how do we select the golden nuggets of effectiveness? 2016 is about alignment to the business, the active involvement of mid-level leaders and relevance of content to learners. A 2015 study from Raytheon Professional Services and CLO Magazine studied companies using Performance Analytics; they reported that analytics vanguard organizations are able to gain new insights into performance and design effective learning interventions. The outcome? 19% better results in increasing skills & capabilities in the workforce.

Five levers to boost learning effectiveness, five areas to watch, 2016 is going to be an exciting year. Let us make it happen!